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We are issuing this statement in our personal capacity as concerned citizens to express our
dismay at the reported plans to table the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 in the parliament. We
do not have access to the exact text of the current version of the Bill. Our statement is based on
media reports and the text of the previous version of the Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha
in January 2019. Nevertheless, we feel compelled to issue this statement already at this point of
time in view of the reports that the Bill may be tabled in parliament early next week and may be
taken up for voting in both houses soon after.
We understand that the Bill seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis
and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The stated intent of the Bill is to
provide refuge to persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries. While we support this
laudable objective, we find it deeply troubling that the Bill uses religion as a legal criterion for
determining Indian citizenship.
The idea of India that emerged from the independence movement, and as enshrined in our
constitution, is that of a country that aspires to treat people of all faiths equally. The use of
religion as a criterion for citizenship in the proposed bill would mark a radical break with this
history and would be inconsistent with the basic structure of the constitution. We fear, in
particular, that the careful exclusion of Muslims from the ambit of the Bill will greatly strain the
pluralistic fabric of the country.
We note that article 14 of the Indian constitution prohibits the State from denying “to any person
equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” While it is
the job of legal experts to determine whether this draft bill violates the letter of the constitution, it
seems certain to us that it violates its spirit.
For the reasons mentioned above, we call for the immediate withdrawal of this bill and as its
replacement request for appropriate legislation that will address the concerns of refugees and
minorities in a non-discriminatory manner.
List of Signatories (Name and Affiliation)
(The institutional affiliations provided here are only for the purpose of identification and
do not indicate the official positions of these organizations.)
Sl no Name Institution